Part Two Swears, Spoilers and things that might upset the fandom Kat joins us to chat about Harry Potter. We think it might be gothic... Our blog thefrankenpod.wordpress.com Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Swears, Spoilers and things that might upset the fandom Kat joins us to chat about Harry Potter. We think it might be gothic... Our blog thefrankenpod.wordpress.com Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Swears, Spoilers and Kat in correction corner! Morgan read the 1886 novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Brent watched the 2007 BBC series Jekyll Our blog thefrankenpod.wordpress.com Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Spoilers, Swears and One Very Grumpy Statue Morgan tells Brent about the original gothic hipster (he did it before it was cool) Horace Walpole, his novel The Castle of Otranto and his ridiculous mansion Strawberry Hill. Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Our blog […]

Swears, Spoilers and Scrooge/Snape comparisons Who wants a Christmas special after Christmas? That's right! No one. We missed the window... or we are super early for Christmas 2019. Promo is The Electric Monks podcast Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Our […]

Swears, Spoilers and Weird Scorch Marks We examine the movie The Mothman Prophecies (2002) with a little contextual help from the source material (The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel 1975) and the urban legend background that only Wives Tales could provide. Promo Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Sha […]

Swears, Spoilers and Kids with Guns Melissa and Morgan both read Rage. Then we both had a bit of a rage. What is it about this terrifyingly suburban gothic and thoroughly unrealistic novel that inspires real teenagers to do some very real and horrific acts? How much of these acts can really be attributed to King's juvenalia? And what would it take for y […]

Part Two Swears, Spoilers and things that might upset the fandom Kat joins us to chat about Harry Potter. We think it might be gothic... Our blog thefrankenpod.wordpress.com Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Swears, Spoilers and things that might upset the fandom Kat joins us to chat about Harry Potter. We think it might be gothic... Our blog thefrankenpod.wordpress.com Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Swears, Spoilers and Kat in correction corner! Morgan read the 1886 novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Brent watched the 2007 BBC series Jekyll Our blog thefrankenpod.wordpress.com Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Spoilers, Swears and One Very Grumpy Statue Morgan tells Brent about the original gothic hipster (he did it before it was cool) Horace Walpole, his novel The Castle of Otranto and his ridiculous mansion Strawberry Hill. Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Our blog […]

Swears, Spoilers and Scrooge/Snape comparisons Who wants a Christmas special after Christmas? That's right! No one. We missed the window... or we are super early for Christmas 2019. Promo is The Electric Monks podcast Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Our […]

Swears, Spoilers and Weird Scorch Marks We examine the movie The Mothman Prophecies (2002) with a little contextual help from the source material (The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel 1975) and the urban legend background that only Wives Tales could provide. Promo Music: Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Sha […]

Swears, Spoilers and Kids with Guns Melissa and Morgan both read Rage. Then we both had a bit of a rage. What is it about this terrifyingly suburban gothic and thoroughly unrealistic novel that inspires real teenagers to do some very real and horrific acts? How much of these acts can really be attributed to King's juvenalia? And what would it take for y […]

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My Favourite Vampire with Sarah from Good Nightmare

Dracula is one of those monsters who is so pervasive and terrifying, I’ve already explored how he has been contorted and manipulated to fit our social anxieties. Despite the very “of their time” nature of Dracula adaptations, the appeal of certain adaptations divisive, and not by the age of the reader or viewer and the contemporary adaptations of their time. The novel Dracula has a timeless appeal that may not be entirely the case with a movie. The 1931 movie has an enduring quality, but it has visibly aged and has lost its edge, the 1992 movie is still narratively compelling but the effects and augmentation of the original text place it firmly in the 90s. I asked a fellow Australian podcaster, Sarah, from Good Nightmare to tell me why the novel is such a favourite of hers.

In order to fully explore Dracula we would be remiss if we didn’t cover the 1931 movie

Fun fact the Spanish language Dracula was filmed on the same set, but at night, so they were able to perfect the shots that the American crew may have botched a little. Many many regard the Spanish version as the superior film. I have not watched the Spanish version but I instead watched the American Universal Studios Version of Dracula directed by Carl Laemmle jr. and starring Bela Lugosi as the titular Count.

The 1931 movie features a lot of close-ups of Dracula, with lights focused on his eyes. This way of depicting the hypnotic gaze is effective but more than a tiny bit ridiculous. Also, we never see a bite, we just see people leaning ominously in and the scene fades or the vampire moves slowly and ominously out of shot. The movie is as subtle as a brick, but let’s face it you don’t come to Universal Studios Monster canon for a nuanced story. They have very obviously styled Lucy as a “modern woman”, and carried out some serious 1930s slut-shaming, because she deserved to be bitten, unlike the pure and innocent Mina. Hey everyone, can we have an adaption of Dracula in which we don’t care about Lucy because she is less chaste or special than her friend Mina? Please. If there is one please let me know because I would love to see it.

I’ve said some nasty things about the film, but I do really appreciate some very special elements that the film brings to the Dracula narrative,

The movie gives us an origin story for Renfield (which means we get soooo much supernaturally crazed Dwight Frye which I am 100% here for)

Helen chandler’s performance is wonderful, over the top and just beautiful. Obviously, Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Eric Van Sloan as Van Helsing are the most iconic characters in the movie but Helen Chandler as Mina Harker almost mare me like the character of Mina more. The bushy moustaches of the Transylvanian villagers are something to behold, honestly, this movie’s moustache game may be the best I’ve seen. An honourable mention has to go to Jonathan’s Suits. They almost made him interesting.